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Wednesday, June 29, 2016

savory sesame granola

Well, my summer vacation is coming to a close, sigh. I've definitely made the most of these six weeks off. It's been so wonderful having time to be in the kitchen, read novels, run and workout, and not have any homework to do! We even went to Maui for a long and magical weekend. But next week I'll be starting back at school for a summer class. Back to reality, I have a degree to get!

Breakfast is one of my favorite meals and it almost always consists of some sort of homemade granola. Whether it be my chunky chocolate buckwheat granola, cinnamon + tahini granola, or my olive oil + maple granola, it's a staple in my diet, and one of those things that I insist on making because store-bought granola is usually full of added sugar. When we buy granola from Costco it's known as "cookie granola" in our house because it tastes like dessert! Not that it's bad... but it's more of a treat.

So, to mix things up a bit, and because we were going to Maui and I wanted to bring some traveling snacks, I tried it as a salty snack instead of a sweet one... and it worked.

Granola has just reached another level. It's still good for breakfast but now you can have it all day long! This savory granola is an awesome snack by itself or added to any salad for some extra crunch.

savory sesame granola

3 cups rolled oats (1 cup ground into flour)

1 cup dry millet

1 cup pumpkin seeds

1/4 cup sesame seeds

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup tahini

1/4 cup coconut oil

1 tsp toasted sesame oil

2 Tbsp honey

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (optional but highly recommended)

Grind one cup of the oats in a blender or food processor. Combine all dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl: oats, oat flour, millet, seeds, and nutritional yeast. In a smaller bowl whisk together the tahini, oils, honey, salt, and cayenne. Pour this over the dry ingredients and fold until completely coated. Line a medium baking sheet with parchment paper and spread the granola out to the edges. It should be about 1/2" thick. Press and compact it with a spatula to help create a chunkier granola. Bake at 300 degrees F for about 30 minutes. I turned my tray around about half way to ensure even toasting (my oven is hotter in the back).

Allow the granola to cool completely before breaking it up, this is another step that will result in bigger chunks.

Store in an airtight container, snack liberally, top salads, soups, smoothies, and whatever else you are eating because this stuff is bomb!